Salary Sacrifice - how does it affect 'take-home' pay

p00hsticks

If you haven't already spotted it, then it's worth reading through the 'sticky' thread on salary sacrifice to be aware of some of the pros and cons

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/174519

jamesd

Assuming that you have access to the SL online system for workplace pensions, have a look at the amount paid in. For salary sacrifice you will see all of the money going in gross as employer contributions. That's normal for salary sacrifice because it's coming from the employer formally, not from you. Employer contributions also don't trigger the automatic addition of basic rate tax relief that you wouldn't be entitled to.

somethingcorporate

I can guess your employer from the information you've given (does it start with a B? )

One thing to be aware of is that you cannot lower your contribution (via salary sacrifice) on a whim, you can only do it once a year (October if I remember correctly).

One other thing, are you doubly sure you are sacrificing the full amount via salary sacrifice? If I am correct on who you work for for some reason they only automatically salary sacrificed up to 5% of your contribution and you needed to complete a form to ensure you get the full amount sacrificed. The easy way to check this is just to look on your pension contribution statement, if it has no employee contribution then it's 100% salary sacrificed. I made this mistake of contributing 7% and 2% of it for some reason was not going via salary sacrifice (until I filled in this form).